On Wednesday, the House of Representatives voted to censure Arizona Republican Paul Gosar in response to Gosar’s posting a video in which a cartoon version of Gosar slays a cartoon version of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with a sword. Only two Republicans, Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, voted in favor of the resolution.
Congressman Peter Meijer, one of ten House Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump over the former president’s role in inciting the Capitol riot, says that Gosar’s conduct has been “contemptible” but believes Gosar should not have been formally censured over a “dumb anime clip”:
“As someone who has faced death threats and had a senior party official reference my assassination, I take political violence seriously. Rep. Gosar disgraced himself with his actions leading up to January 6th, and he has disgraced himself further by associating with anti-Semites and Holocaust deniers.
“Sadly, disgracing oneself with anti-Jewish associates isn’t a rare occurrence for a handful of my colleagues on either side of the aisle, but today’s vote wasn’t about these actions. It was about a dumb anime clip. The last censure of a member of Congress was in 2010. Today, Democratic leadership did not present an objective, articulate standard for censure in the absence of an Ethics Committee ruling or formal legal action.
“Rep. Gosar’s conduct has been contemptible, but calling that video a death threat is an unreasonable exaggeration that ignores why political violence is such a threat: leaders embracing authoritarian lies. The American people deserve a Congress that functions according to reason, not emotion.”
For more on Gosar’s association with a white supremacist, see this article.
Whatever you think of Paul Gosar's anime video in isolation, keep in mind that he showed his true colors earlier this year when he was the only congressman who spoke at a conference hosted by a vile bigot and Holocaust denier: https://t.co/FEnaTyv9xW pic.twitter.com/8JWjcBj4OE
— John McCormack (@McCormackJohn) November 17, 2021